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Plymouth train station murder

Skinner's barrister said the defendant did not want the personal nature of the row aired in public.

Judge Paul Darlow said: “This was a sustained, merciless and vicious attack on a defenceless man.”

Jamie Skinner will serve a minimum of 22 and a half years in prison (Image: BTP)

Graphic CCTV footage shown at Plymouth Crown Court showed the 49-year-old covered in blood staggering into the ticket hall while trying to fend off the blows.

Waiting passengers, including children, are visibly shocked before moving away.

A brave member of Great Western Railway staff, John Phare, managed to grab Skinner in a bear hug and pull him to the ground – where the attacker was restrained by colleagues and members of the public.

But it was too late for Mr Fenton, who died an hour later at hospital from massive blood loss.

The court was read emotional statements from family members, who left the courtroom while the horrific footage was shown.

Wayne Fenton sustained more than 40 stab wounds

Long-term partner Soraya Hester, mother of his two youngest children, said in a document read by an officer: “I cannot put into words the loss and the pain I feel and the way he suffered in those final moments. This will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Ms Hestor added: “The children do not know how their daddy died. How do I tell them what happened to their hero?”

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Burly and tattooed Skinner, of Bodmin Road, Whitleigh, pleaded guilty to murder on August 8 on the first day of what would have been his trial.

Adam Vaitilingam, QC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Skinner gave Mr Fenton a lift to the station so that he could travel to Wales to serve the remaining few weeks of his prison sentence.

Mr Fenton, who had been allowed to return to his Plymouth home on leave, was jailed for eight years in May 2014 as part of a gang which trafficked large amounts of cocaine to the city from Plymouth.

The scene of a stabbing at Plymouth Railway Station (Image: Penny Cross)

Mr Vaitilingam said the pair were walking from a car park towards the station when Skinner started stabbing his friend around the chest, neck and head in a “frenzy”.

Mr Fenton tried to push him away as he staggered with blood pouring from his wounds into the crowded ticket hall.

Mr Vaitilingam said that crowds, including women and children, scattered as he Mr Fenton tried to get away from his attacker – all the time weakening from the blows.

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The barrister added that one mum said she was terrified as she moved away with children aged eight, ten and 13.

Mr Vaitilingam said that Mr Phare “very bravely” got Skinner in a bear hug from behind and pulled him to the ground. Other members of staff and members of the public helped restrain the attacker.

Loving father of five, Wayne Fenton

He added that Mr Fenton suffered at least 17 major wounds, with more than 40 injuries in total.

Mr Vaitilingam said Skinner was heard saying after the attack: “He should not have threatened my mother. I hope he dies. I will do 50 years for my mother.”

The barrister said the murder weapon was a Stanley knife with a blade of about three and a half inches.

A family liaison officer then read statements from Ms Hester and Mr Fenton’s mother Elaine Thorn. The victim also had three grown-up children as well as the five and six-year-old with Ms Hester.

Ms Hester added: “We worked so hard for the last four years waiting to be reunited. He will not get to walk his princess down the aisle and will never get to see his best mate become a black belt in martial arts.

"I will never get to marry the man that I loved. I will tell them (the children) every day how much their daddy loves them and how proud he was to be their daddy.

“Jamie Skinner has taken so much from us that it is almost impossible to put into words.”

Police say it was a horrific and senseless attack (Image: Penny Cross)

She added that she had suffered sleepless nights and flashbacks.

Mrs Thorn added: “I have had dreams of Wayne returning to the front door. I wake up and I realise he is never coming back.

“I am two different people. One day I am okay and the next I am haunted by the pain that Wayne must have suffered. I am having counselling and the pain will never leave me. I have struggled to sleep.

“Why did he have to die in this way?”

She added she could not understand why a friend to whom he had been a “father figure” would attack him.

Jamie Skinner pleaded guilty at Plymouth Crown Court

Mrs Thorn said: “He has caused me and my family untold pain.”

Richard Smith, QC, for Skinner, said the friends had a “falling out” in the car on the way to the station.

He said the argument led to Mr Fenton making a threat to the defendant’s mother which he considered credible.

Mr Smith said Skinner did not want the nature of the personal argument aired in public.